


Tension

by MadamRed



Series: 400-Follower Celebration (Tumblr) [14]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Fights, Friendship, Kidnapping, One-Sided Attraction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 19:08:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9562559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadamRed/pseuds/MadamRed
Summary: Writing prompt requested on Tumblr: “Make me.”





	

_“I wait for a silent tear / I wait for things to disappear / Wait for the ground to stop moving underneath my only fear. / If I lose you, I don't know.”_

– “Waiting game”, by Yellowcard

 

* * *

The ringing in your head was subsiding slightly, but your vision was still kind of blurry. You frantically looked around the barely-lit room for Spencer. He was to your right, trying to sit up too after being ambushed by the UnSub when you went to the guy’s house with the intention to interrogate him.

‘Spence? You okay?’ you asked as you stood up as well and walked towards him.

‘Yeah, you?’ he asked you once you helped him up.

‘Are we in the basement?’ your eyes, now that you were next to your teammate, started roaming around again. There was a flight of stairs, the only possible way out since the windows seemed to be blocked from the outside. No way of knowing whether it was still day or not.

‘I’d say so. Do you have your gun or phone?’ he asked you, and you checked your pockets and the empty holster on your hip.

‘He took everything. The only good thing is that we called Hotch the moment we arrived and heard some screaming, so it shouldn’t take long for the team to get here,’ you told him as you climbed on top of a box to try and pry one of windows open, with no success.

‘It’s pointless,’ a female voice said from a dark corner, and you both jumped.

‘Amanda?’ Spencer ventured out as the owner of the voice stepped forwards into the faint light coming from an old wall lamp at the bottom of the stairs. She had been kidnapped two weeks before on her way home from work, but the guy kept kidnapping and killing women while he held her captive.

‘Yes,’ she nodded but made no attempt to move any closer. ‘Who are you? He’s never brought a man before.’

‘We’re FBI agents. We’re here to save you,’ you tried to reassure her despite the panic you felt taking over every part of your body. ‘Are you hurt?’

‘Not really. I only have bruises now,’ you heard the shackles attached to one of her ankles as she moved to sit down again. You couldn’t help the emotions bubbling inside you and tried to swallow the lump in your throat.

Spencer noticed how your shoulders slumped and grabbed your hand. You looked over at him and were about to thank him when the door to the basement was thrown open and you heard the distinct sound of bullets being put into the magazine. Amanda cried out and retreated further into the shadows. You kept your gaze on Spencer’s face as you moved to the opposite side of the room so that it would be more difficult for him to keep an eye on all three individuals at once.

‘Well, looks like the feds are awake. Good,’ he smiled. You could understand now why these women fell for his trap.

He was what would be considered a handsome man by today’s standards: dark hair, green eyes, tall, well-built. You hadn’t even had a chance to look at him when you tried to get into the house through the back door before you felt a blunt object connecting with your head. He had managed to overpower the two of you so you could not let your guard down now.

‘If you kill one of us, it would only make your sentence longer,’ Spencer started talking, trying to distract him from you, to see if that could buy you a few seconds to attempt an attack on the guy.

‘Good one, Dr Reid was it?’ he laughed, making all the hairs on your arms stand on end. ‘However, that wouldn’t matter. I would get life anyway. So... who is it gonna be, Amanda?’

‘W-what?’ she stammered, her voice barely above a whisper. She was still hidden in the dark.

‘Come forward so I can see your face while you choose who’s gonna die first, Amanda,’ he moved the hand holding the gun, gesturing for her to step closer to the light.

‘I-I c-can’t choose!’ she sobbed and stood in the middle of the room, as far as the chain would let her.

‘Weird. You didn’t seem to have a problem a few days ago to choose between the brunette and the blonde who had made your work life a living hell...,’ he trailed off, and Amanda collapsed onto her knees as she wrapped her arms around herself. ‘Now! Who is it gonna be? The doctor or the princess?’

Amanda just continued to sob uncontrollably, which prompted a sigh from the UnSub.

‘Useless,’ he mumbled. ‘Fine. I’ll do it myself. The doctor.’

He didn’t even hesitate so he had probably already chosen Spencer even before asking the poor woman. Your heart started racing as you saw him stepping closer to your teammate and as Spencer’s eyes grew bigger in fear.

You had no way of knowing how long you were out from the blow earlier, which also meant that you didn’t know how long it would be before the team arrived. You needed to do something.

‘Spare him,’ you yelled without thinking.

‘Oh, the princess can talk?’ he said, acknowledging your presence with a side glance over his shoulder. It made your blood boil despite the paralysing fear you felt.

‘Spare him,’ you repeated, trying to buy time. ‘You don’t need to kill him. You’re not interested in killing men. They don’t bring you the same joy as killing women.’

‘Why do you say that?’ he turned around now, his back to the staircase so that he could watch everyone in the room.

‘There were a few men murdered that fit your M.O. Police failed to connect them to you since you crossed the state line. Clever. But not enough to fool us. It’s the women that do it for ya, huh?’

‘Shut up, _princess,’_ he said through greeted teeth.

‘Why? Hit a nerve?’ you smirked. You could see Spencer shaking his head as discreetly as possible to get you to stop but you ignored him.

‘Shut _UP!’_ he finally snapped, pointing his gun at you.

‘Make me,’ you defied him, ready to take him on.

He tucked the gun on the back of his trousers and ran towards you in an attempt to tackle you. You evaded his advance, and got ready to fight. He threw a punch at you, and you ducked. Taking advantage of his momentary lack of balance, you punched him right under the chin. The pain in your knuckles was almost unbearable, but the adrenaline kept you going.

He tried to push you down, but you moved easily around him again. It was obvious that he had no experience in real fighting. His pretty face and muscles were aid enough to get him what he wanted. But you _knew_ how to fight. You were trained and had fought tougher men.

You saw Spencer moving closer to the staircase and you tried to distract the somewhat disoriented male in front of you so that he wouldn’t notice the genius. You dodged and blocked his punches and hit him in the stomach with your left hand when you got the opportunity; your right one throbbing like crazy from the previous contact. He doubled over for just a second but it was enough for your teammate to take the gun from him.

Spencer pulled back the hammer and aimed the gun at the UnSub, and the guy, realising he had lost the upper hand, stopped moving. You grabbed the same rope he had used on his victims, since he had taken your handcuffs along with your guns, and tied him to a chair, released the hostage and left the UnSub in the basement while you searched for your things upstairs.

He had broken both phones but you found a burner and Spencer called Hotch, who was already speeding through the city with the team to get to you. It was still day, which meant you hadn’t been out for that long. He updated him on the situation, and they arrived twenty minutes later. They took the UnSub away, and Amanda was sent to the hospital. You were also ordered to go for some x-rays for possible fractures on your knuckles.

Spencer offered to drive you since only one ambulance had been able to make it to the scene. The ride was silent. He wanted to scold you for risking your life in such a way but was too drained to do so at the moment. You knew it would come eventually but were hoping it would wait until after you landed. No such luck.

He kept quiet until you made it back to the car, thankfully, with no fractures. You knew the speech was coming the minute you sat down in the passenger seat and saw him gripping the steering wheel a little too tightly.

‘Spence-’ you sighed and tried to explain your actions.

‘No. You don’t get to call me that. Not after what you did,’ he said, his voice stern.

‘Won’t you at least let me explain myself?’ you pleaded, knowing it would be a futile attempt.

‘No. I’m too angry right now,’ and with that, he put the key in the ignition and drove you back to the police station where the team was waiting for you to finally go home.

 

* * *

The cold shoulder treatment continued for a solid two weeks. He answered questions when he had no other way out, but otherwise? It was like trying to get through a child in the middle of a tantrum. An icy, silent tantrum.

You deliberately followed him home one day, walking just a few steps behind him. You could see that he was getting more and more irritated by the minute, which was more than you had got from him since you left the hospital that day.

You sat across from him on the subway, ordered a coffee and occupied a table not too far from his at a café near his apartment building, and even got up and practically ran after him when you got distracted by your phone and saw that he had left. To any passer-by, you probably looked like a crazy ex-girlfriend but you honestly did not care.

You hesitated when you rounded the corner to his building. He obviously didn’t want to talk to you yet, and you should’ve respected his decision. When you saw him walking to the glass entrance doors, you continued going straight. You would wait until he was ready.

‘Aren’t you coming in?’ you heard his voice saying when you reached the other corner and then felt his presence behind you. You turned around and saw him diverting his eyes and gripping the strap of his messenger bag with one hand and the coffee cup with the other.

‘A-are you sure?’ you asked. _Yes,_ you had pushed his patience to its limits today, but he was still your friend.

‘Come on,’ he said simply, and you followed him in without another word.

It got awkward once you stepped into his apartment and you didn’t know what to do or say to clear the air or even lighten up the mood.

‘Sit, (Y/n),’ he said as he left his bag and cup on the coffee table and took a seat on the couch. ‘Please?’ he added once you didn’t move.

You complied and sat next to him, holding onto the cup even if it was empty already just to have something to distract yourself with.

‘Would you like to say something or should I start?’ he asked you after a minute or two of waiting.

‘I... I’ve been thinking about what I’d say since we were sitting in the SUV outside the hospital two weeks ago and I honestly don’t know how to explain myself properly, Reid. I-’

‘So, I’m still Reid?’ his voice was small.

‘I wasn’t sure whether you were still angry with me or not... Spence?’

‘I’m not angry anymore. Once the anger faded, I just felt _numb,_ really. Helpless. When I saw that guy charging towards you, I froze! I didn’t know how to help you! What if he overpowered you again? Or shot you?’

‘But he didn’t!’

‘But what if?!’ he said, getting up, and you had to turn around on the couch to watch him pace as he continued talking. ‘Why did you do it? Provoke him like that?’

‘Because we profiled him as a volatile, impulsive, misogynistic man. I knew he would come after me if I pushed him, giving you an opportunity to take his gun because he _would_ want to beat me into a pulp with his own hands,’ you told him as calmly as possible. ‘When I saw him pointing the gun at you, I panicked, okay? My brain was working on fear and adrenaline. I know it’s not the best excuse in the book, but it’s the truth.’

Your eyes were pleading him to believe you. Without a word, he came around the couch and sat in front of you on his coffee table. He took the empty cup out of your hand and put it next to his. He grabbed you by the shoulders to move you forwards just a bit and hugged you. You instantly put your hands around his middle; it was a little awkward with him being taller than you, but you sighed in relief at having your friend back.

‘Please, promise me you’ll think twice before doing something like that ever again,’ he said, his voice a little muffled by your hair.

‘I promise I’ll try, Spence,’ you told him sincerely. ‘Although... next time, we should probably try and _not_ get ambushed by an UnSub.’

‘Good point,’ he laughed in your ear. He moved back slightly and looked you straight in the eye when he added, ‘Thank you, (Y/n).’

‘Any time, Spence,’ you smiled at him, and he smiled back.

And then your conversation continued on as normal, as if those two weeks of silence hadn’t existed. But they had. And your heart was yelling at you to tell him how terrified you had been in that one instant, but the more sensible part of your brain insisted it wasn’t the right time. You could wait. You _would_ wait for him to be on the same page as you, however long it took him. And, in the meantime, you would try and be there for him as much as possible.


End file.
